Still here...

Alright to begin with, I've just got to say something. Thank you to whatever higher power(s) gave someone the idea to create 5 Hour Energy!! I don't know what I'd do without it. Seriously...I don't know how well I'd be staying awake at the moment if it weren't for that little energy shot. Ryleigh did NOT want to sleep last night. She'd fall asleep for a few minutes here and there, but for the most part, she would just crawl all over me and ask me to start the movie again (she was watching The Fox and the Hound...it plays by itself a few times, but after that you need to hit play to start it up again). I did not restart it, but she kept asking anyway. I finally got annoyed, closed the laptop, and told her I had to work in the morning and if she asked me to start the movie one more time, I'd swat her butt. Well, she didn't ask me to start the movie again, but she didn't sleep any better either...which means I got VERY little sleep myself. When I left, I told her she NEEDED to go to sleep, so at least one of us could get some decent sleep. She wasn't happy about that, but she stayed in bed (how soon after I left she was up waking everyone else up, I don't know...but she was still in bed when I left).

I know I've been slacking on this blog lately. In my defense, I've been insanely busy and insanely tired....and insanely lacking decent internet. Seriously...I was going insane. I even wrote out a check for almost $300 (which was around half of my biggest paycheck so far) to get the good internet back because they sent another bill even though mom had already given them a $300 check. They're REALLY slow on cashing checks... (So we won't have an internet bill for a few months now. lol) I was 3 weeks behind on my shows (because I can only watch them online...we don't get the right channel) and finally got caught up on Sunday. The airport blocking streaming and downloading (and a whole lot of other stuff) and my grandparents having only dial-up and having the good internet at home disconnected because the bill was "forgotten" for a few months is killer to me. An internet connection shouldn't matter to me so much, but some of my best friends...and pretty much the only ones I get a chance to talk to regularly...are online. And like I already said, it's my only way to watch my shows.

Here's hoping I make it though today... I am SO not a morning person. lol

I'm not dead yet

Okay, so it's been a while since my last post...but in my defense, I'm sick. Some annoying little bug has been working it's way through the household and I've been even more tired and cranky than usual. And before that it was insanely busy at work. And somewhere in between there, I was spending WAY too much time playing computer games with every spare moment I had.

Honestly, I really don't have much to say at the moment. My head is too muddled with mucous for my brain to function properly. Oh, I do have a funny quote from my youngest brother as we were taking the dog to the house in town...the dog was sitting on his lap, sticking his nose out the window that was open just far enough for him to get his nose out, and my brothers goes, "Don't jump out, you'll die! Dogs don't have 9 lives like cats, I think they only have 2!" (Bolded for emphasis because that's the part that really killed me.) Okay, maybe it's just me, but I thought that was HILARIOUS. It was probably insane of me to take 2 sick kids and a dog into town when I was sick myself...but it seemed like a good idea at the time. It all went alright for the most part until Ryleigh moved the dog's water bowl and my brother tripped over it. That was a mess...but at least it was just water. Oh, and the dog ate half of one of Ryleigh's pizza slices after I told her to eat it or put it up before she went to play because the dog could get it where it was. She cried, but I warned her that would happen...so I'm not sure why she was so surprised.

I'm picking up an extra 8.5 hour shift at work on Wednesday, so this next paycheck is going to be a fairly decent one (but then again the one for the 2nd part of the month is always bigger than the one for the first part of the month...it's kind of a pain). I slept a lot today (and so did Ryleigh), so hopefully we'll both be feeling better before I have to go into work Wednesday morning and she has to spend the day with Great-Grandma.

I guess that's all I've got right now. My brain is feeling kind of crispy-fried, so I think I'll stop here and maybe write some more tomorrow or Wednesday. I feel kind of bad writing when I have nothing interesting going on... Oh well, that's life I guess.

This place is trying to kill me

Woke up today shortly before 10 am after a restless night of Ryleigh waking up to go potty a few times including one where she got to thinking it was time to stay up because the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. It took a while to get her back to sleep after that...she wanted to watch a movie, but I knew she wouldn't go back to sleep with a movie on. Anyway, I checked my phone as soon as I woke up. I had received a text message earlier that morning asking if I could come in to work at 11... Well, shit...I still needed to take a shower, that wouldn't leave me much time...and what about Ryleigh? I texted back "I can, but I'd have to have Ryleigh with me until my mom got done at 1." You know, thinking maybe that'd get me out of going in early. But of course, it doesn't work that way. "That's fine." So I take a SUPER fast shower, get myself and Ryleigh dressed, pack up my computer, try to find her a couple things to do while I'm busy, and rush out the door.

We got there a few minutes late, but I made sure it was known that I was on my way. I got Ryleigh and myself settled in. She colored for a few minutes and then she got tired of that, so I set her up with some Disney Junior games on my computer. Thankfully, there was only one plane to deal with while I had her here...but of course, she chose the exact moment I got busy after the plane landed to announce she had to pee! So I try to explain to her that she has very bad timing, I need to work now, and she needs to try to hold it for a few minutes while mommy helps the "nice" people, and I hope like hell that she doesn't have an accident before I'm able to take her to the bathroom. Luckily, she made it alright (although she wouldn't hold still for even a second while she was waiting) and didn't have an accident. Then, we walked around the airport a little bit because she was full of energy and didn't want to sit still anymore, and she tried to drag Grandmama away from her work (yeah, my mom works at the airport too). Finally, Grandmama got done and took Ryleigh home to get ready to go swimming at the hotel for Great-Grandpa's birthday today. Whew! The next plane isn't due in until 1:30. I can rest and maybe eat my lunch now, right?

WRONG! The plane comes in early, and I get the people all cleared out maybe 10-15 minutes before the next plane comes in (late) and hour later. And now I have no cabs for this flight! And I still have no cabs when the flight has landed! SHIT!!! Then, Delta starts bringing me luggage after luggage for the next hour. One delivery every 5-15 minutes...I still don't have cabs for people how am I going to get these out too? And then the 3:00 comes in and I've still got all this luggage that I can't send out until I make sure I have enough cabs for the people that need them. And then American starts bringing me a bunch of luggage with another delivery found every 10 minutes. I finally got it all called on and I'm working on getting out the stuff that is either going to hotels or going to owners I've been able to speak with. I think I may have missed someone calling back about one of the luggage deliveries I left a message about while I was taking some other luggage out to a cab. I just heard a last ring as I walked back in and that was it.

So it is now almost 4, the next plane is due in at 4:30, I still don't have all this luggage out, I've still got people waiting for a shuttle, I've been here since a little after 11, and I haven't had a chance to eat my lunch yet (I also didn't have a chance to eat breakfast). At this rate, I don't think I'm going to be able to eat today. Maybe after the 5:00 flight I'll have more luck, then next one after that isn't supposed to be until 7... Between the stress and the lack of food, I don't know if I'll live past 30 if I stay at this job. Yeesh!

Too tired to come up with a good title

Whoever thought it was a good idea for the person working Friday night to also work Saturday morning (all day Saturday actually, but it's the morning part that's hardest) should be shot! Well...not really, but I am very annoyed with them. With a half hour drive home and a half hour drive back to work, I end up not getting nearly enough time to sleep...even less time if Ryleigh fights going to bed when I get home. Yesterday was a fucking headache and a half with all the PEOPLE coming in for whatever the hell was/is going on at/with the Mayo Clinic. Friday nights, we usually don't have a shuttle, but the shuttle driver was nice enough to keep bringing his big 29 passenger bus (the usual shuttle carries 9) for the 3-4 flights after the shuttle was supposed to be done here because there were just that many PEOPLE! And thank god for that...I don't know what I would've done if he wasn't here. Even with that 29 passenger bus nearly full...I was still loading 8-10 cabs off of each flight! That's like an insane amount of people/cabs here! On an average day, the cab drivers usually get pretty lucky if we even load 6 of them per flight...especially on a Friday! Fridays and Saturdays usually have a lot of people being picked up, so we'll usually have a lot of loading 0-3 cabs per flight. I just hope today isn't like that again or I may go (more) insane...

The only small positive to yesterday was when someone forgot their laptop in the hustle and bustle of trying to get out of here after on of the flights (yeah, I know that doesn't sound like much of a positive but hear me out). Someone found it and brought it to me very concerned that it be kept somewhere safe so the owner could get it back when he/she came looking for it. That by itself was AWESOME because so often people will just ignore stuff lying around that isn't theirs and don't care about anyone but themselves. But even better was just as I was cleaning up to get out of here. A guy came in looking for his laptop that he accidentally left and thanks to that other guy, I was able to give this guy his laptop back. It was great!

On a completely unrelated note, I seriously LOVE Med City's fax number. It's a palindrome. So I push the numbers: doot, doot, doot, zero, and then back through the first 3 numbers in reverse. It's so much fun to punch in a number like that. (I like palindromes, okay? I thought it was awesome that my birthday this year was a palindrome in day-month-year orientation too. 11-02-2011, 11022011...hehehe. Don't judge me, I'm not completely insane...just a little weird.) I like numbers and math and am pretty good with both...which is apparently very strange for the high school I went to or so I've heard anyway.

Also, sorry I haven't posted in a while (as if anyone comes looking for new posts without me pointing them out anyway), but I've been on dial-up and there hasn't been much going on anyway. And I just didn't feel like posting for a few days there....I didn't really feel much like doing anything, and I used up all the energy I did have to play with Ryleigh, so I had none left to think of something to write about here.

Probably not a good day to start a blog

A little background on me before I get into why it's not a good day to start a blog: I am a 24 year old, college graduate, single mother stuck working at a $8/hour part-time job at an airport because I don't have enough experience for anyone else to want to hire me (despite numerous applications/resumes I've put in at places more suited to my degree)...and I live with my mom...and my grandparents. This living arrangement is okay sometimes, but most of the time it's difficult...to say the least. Mostly because my grandma and I are both very stubborn people and are constantly butting heads over every little thing. But anyway, that's more or less my life right now.

Now, why is it not a good day to start blogging? I didn't get out of work until after midnight last night, drove half an hour home to find my 2.5 year old daughter still awake and wanting nothing to do with sleeping, couldn't get to sleep myself for at least a couple hours after finally getting her to go to bed, woke up at 6 this morning to get ready for work, and drove a half hour back to work. I don't understand at all why it's usually the person working Friday night that gets to come in for Saturday (which is usually an all day shift because there aren't as many planes coming in on Saturdays). Wouldn't it make more sense for the person who worked Friday morning and had a chance to go home and rest to get Saturday? Or maybe even someone who didn't work Friday at all? Don't get me wrong, I'm not really complaining all that much. Money is money, and I have to be scheduled hours to get money even if they aren't exactly the hours I would choose for myself. Anyway...that kind of went off on a tangent. The main point there is I am really tired today, so (as as already been seen) this post is going to mostly be me whining and complaining. I'm hoping that won't end up being a common trend if I keep blogging on here, but I'm very afraid that might be the case...I'm kind of a whiner.

There are some small positives to this job though. For one, I have access to the airport's free wifi (which used to be completely open until a few months ago when they went crazy blocking stuff...but that's a rant for another post, maybe. They have eased up on the blocking somewhat though now that they're getting it more fine tuned to just the stuff they need blocked). Another is that I (very) occasionally get random money. Like today, one of the cab drivers gave me $5 to watch his cab while he went in to use the toilet...because people aren't allowed to leave vehicles unattended outside the airport doors. The security guards are VERY strict about it, but they do try to at least give the owners warning that they need to either stay with their vehicle or park it in the short term lot before ticketing and/or towing the vehicles. And then there are the interesting, short-tempered, chatty, or just plain crazy people that sometimes come through here. Last night for example, a couple came in on the last flight of the night with no hotel room booked and expecting to book a hotel room and be able to rent a car...at almost midnight. The lady was very nice, kinda ditzy though (remarked to me a few times while calling hotels that she didn't like using her husband's cell phone because she could never figure it out)...and she had a mullet. It looked great from the back, but the front...well, let's just say I wouldn't get a haircut like that myself, but she seemed to like her hair so more power to her. Her husband was a tall, broad-shoulder, balding, kind of cranky man (although arriving just before midnight to no rental car and no hotel room...I guess that's not so surprising). He thought it was crazy that the rental agencies wouldn't be open...at almost midnight. They eventually got things sorted out and I got them a cab to take them to their hotel. Update (before I even get this post published...nice): They came back to rent a car and were very surprised to see me here "still" and still smiling. While I would much rather be sleeping, I might as well at least try to look happy while I'm here.

Oh, just to explain my blog title to anyone who may be wondering. "CCL" is Crazy Cat Lady which is kind of one of the groups I'm part of...except, I don't have a cat. I did have a cat for a little while, but when things went to hell with my (now almost 3 years ex-) bf, I was forced to move back with my mom and she doesn't like cats...and is allergic to them, but mostly she just thinks they're gross. Not really sure where I got my love of cats, most of my family doesn't like them...doesn't like most pets actually, especially not ones in the house. It's very sad. I guess another way the title could be viewed is that because I'm a "CCL without cats," I'm really just a crazy lady...which is sometimes true. A lot of times I don't make much sense to anyone, not even myself.

I suppose I'll wrap this up now, but since it's not even noon yet (and Saturdays tend to be really boring, filled with long gaps between flights), I might be back with more later. We'll see.